"3D Spheroids for Obesity and Diabetes Research: Opportunities and Obstacles"

Organoids, spheroids, and other 3D models have exploded as valuable tools for drug discovery and in vitro simulation of human physiology. Using a scaffold-free aggregation technique, we have developed and characterized organoids of interest to the obesity and diabetes field from primary human tissue samples. In this talk, we will explore the question ‘Do cues in the 3D environment matter?’ for human adipose tissue, pancreatic islets, and mesenchymal stem cells.

Bio:

James Ankrum is an Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering. James got his undergraduate degree from the Univeristy of Iowa in Biomedical Engineering. He went on to earn his Masters from the University of Cambridge as the first Churchill Scholar ever selected from the University of Iowa. He went on to earn his PhD from MIT and in 2014 returned to the University of Iowa to run a research lab in the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center within the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute. Dr. Ankrum and his group use bioengineering strategies to enhance cell based therapies for regenerative medicine, develop tissue models for drug discovery, and engineer drug release technologies for controlled drug release.